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San Antonio has just begun shopping for a downtown grocery store, but what it wants appears out of stock.

The big chains aren't interested in taking a loss leader to move into the market. The little guys would rather serve prepared meals than fresh produce.

And it's unclear how the grocery store proposals will benefit residents living near downtown.

After requesting ideas for a downtown grocery store, potentially subsidized with $1 million in public funds and other goodies, city staff now has the unenviable task of reviewing a bunch of ideas for non-grocery stores downtown.

Only H-E-B, our local grocery giant, submitted plans for ... a grocery store. But it did so grudgingly, with a weighty sense of local obligation. A downtown store will lose money, subsidy and all.

“The million dollars is great, and it will help them, but it won't near cover what some of their losses will be depending on how big they go with it,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, no stranger to the grocery business.

Still, wouldn't it be nice to know what exactly was submitted? You know, dig into the details a bit to see what bang we might get for our million bucks?

So I did, sigh, for such a small thing. But it's not like Houston's sending that request over to the express aisle.

In her view, private interests behind the proposals trump the public's interest in the proposals.

“We wanted to see what ideas developers had, and we received four proposals and we will be looking at those to see how they are in line with the grocery store study,” she said.

That study found downtown could support a 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot store, which is about the size of a Trader Joe's. Nationally, the average supermarket size is 46,000 square feet.

But support came with caveats: a subsidy of $2.5 million to $3 million would be needed. The study suggested real estate tax abatement for 10 years as infill occurs.

Wolff, a supporter of the idea, wondered who would be shopping at the downtown grocery store: Tourists? Future downtowners? Worker bees? Residents in nearby neighborhoods?

“It's a hard demographic to figure out,” he said. “How do you project the growth of the inner city?”

This much is clear: a niche market might play well with the creative class this city covets, but it won't do much for many residents near downtown.

About 20 percent of families in the ZIP codes south and west of downtown — 78210 and 78204 — live in poverty, U.S. Census data show. Many more are above the poverty line, but low-income.

“I think most of the people living in that area would be drawn to a more inclusive grocery store model, something that had a mix (of products),” said Laura Muraida, who specializes in food security issues with the Southwest Workers Union.

A niche market is great if you are choosing between Gouda and Manchego, not so if that choice is paying bills or eating.

Whatever gets built, here's some solace for residents in and around downtown's food desert: A 7-Eleven is coming! You can always shop there.